Category Archives: US News

Chaotic Trump-Biden debate may count for little – voters have already decided

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Interruptions, bickering and a shocking tone may ultimately not matter, pollsters say, as most people have already made up their minds

First-time independent voter Benaja Richardson tuned into Tuesday’s now infamous debate between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden hoping to be presented with a vision of the future and unity amid the turbulence of the current climate.

Instead the 18-year-old student from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a potential swing state, said it opened her eyes to “truly what catastrophic times we’re in”.

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Scrutiny on Rose Garden event after Kellyanne Conway and other guests test positive for Covid

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At least seven people who attended event for Trump’s supreme court nominee have confirmed they have coronavirus

A crowded Rose Garden ceremony last Saturday at which Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his supreme court nominee has come under scrutiny after at least seven figures in attendance tested positive for coronavirus, including the president himself.

On Friday, the president’s former counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, announced she had tested positive and had “mild” symptoms.

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Tweets wishing for Trump’s death violate Twitter policy, company says

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Platform says abusive tweets about the president, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 this week, could result in suspension

Twitter has said that tweets wishing for Donald Trump’s death in the wake of the president’s diagnosis with Covid-19 violate its policies and could result in suspension.

As Trump made his way to Walter Reed medical center for treatment on Friday, many people on Twitter, including his opponent Joe Biden, wished him a speedy recovery. However many others did the opposite, saying they hope he dies from the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States under his leadership while he repeatedly downplayed the severity of the disease.

Related: Trump taken to hospital by helicopter after Covid diagnosis

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Smoke choking California again as dangerous fire conditions continue

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Excessive heat warnings will remain in effect on the coast as the state closes in on a new record of 4m acres burned

Smoke from nearly two dozen wildfires burning across California will continue to darken skies across the west this weekend, as residents prepare for more heat, toxic air and conditions that are expected to keep fueling the flames.

The National Weather Service reports that both excessive heat warnings and heat advisories will remain in effect along California’s coast, while the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has extended its Spare the Air Alert through Tuesday, with air quality deemed “unhealthy”. Meanwhile the state is closing in on a devastating new record, with close to 4m acres now consumed by wildfires this season.

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Biden: Trump’s diagnosis is a ‘bracing reminder’ of the seriousness of Covid – video

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he is praying for a 'quick and full recovery' for President Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, after the couple tested positive for Covid-19.

During a campaign speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Biden said he received two coronavirus tests this morning, both of which were negative. He added: 'My wife, Jill, and I pray that they'll make a quick and full recovery. This is not a matter of politics. It's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously.'

The president initially continued to carry out his duties under quarantine from the White House residence on Friday and was showing 'mild symptoms' of Covid-19, an official said, but was later moved to Walter Reed hospital

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Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star vandalized again

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A man dressed as the Incredible Hulk reportedly took a pickaxe to the star, ‘destroying it beyond recognition’

Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been severely vandalized again, the Los Angeles police department has confirmed.

At 5.55am PST on Friday morning, officers responded to a call regarding the vandalism and took a report on the scene, a spokesman confirmed. He said the police department could not say how much estimated damage was caused.

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Breonna Taylor: grand jury testimony reveals police did not search her home

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Hours of private proceeding were made public, with an officer telling the grand jury police announced their presence before shooting

In grand jury testimony made public on Friday, a law enforcement officer said police in Kentucky did not end up searching Breonna Taylor’s apartment on the day she was shot and killed by police who had arrived with a search warrant.

Police were carrying a narcotics warrant for Taylor’s Louisville apartment on 13 March. In a botched raid, they shot her after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at them on the assumption that they were intruders.

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Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein facing six new sexual assault charges

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The disgraced film mogul, who is serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape, is accused of alleged LA attacks between 2004 and 2010

Harvey Weinstein, the convicted rapist and imprisoned film mogul, is facing six new sexual assault charges, prosecutors in Los Angeles announced on Friday.

Weinstein, 68, was charged with three additional forcible rape felonies and three forcible oral copulation charges stemming from alleged attacks between 2004 and 2010 in Beverly Hills. The new criminal complaint expands the LA case to a total of five victims, authorities said.

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Trump in quarantine as Covid diagnosis throws US into fresh upheaval

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America’s leadership has been plunged into extraordinary uncertainty after Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions over how far the infection has penetrated the heart of government.

Related: Donald and Melania Trump showing 'mild' Covid symptoms as Joe and Jill Biden test negative – live

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Donald and Melania Trump showing ‘mild’ Covid symptoms as Joe and Jill Biden test negative – live

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Here’s where the day stands so far:

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is moving forward with his plans to travel to Michigan today, after testing negative for coronavirus.

According to a pool report, Biden’s motorcade was en route to the airport as of about 20 minutes ago.

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Hicks, hubris and not a lot of masks: the week Trump caught Covid

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The US president tested positive after a week in which he behaved with the same disregard for public health rules that has characterised his coronavirus response

Donald Trump’s presidency has been full of plot surprises. But no single tweet has had the same meteor-like impact as the one sent by the president shortly before 1am on Friday morning. It felt like a season finale moment. “Overnight, @FlOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump wrote. He added, in matter-of-fact style: “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”.

The announcement was astonishing. And yet – seen through the timeline of Trump’s recent activities – it appears wholly unremarkable and perhaps even cosmically inevitable. Over the past five days the president has behaved with the same reckless disregard for public health rules that has characterised his response since January to the global coronavirus pandemic.

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Trump’s Covid diagnosis throws final month of campaign into total confusion

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Huge questions over practical matters of rallies and travel, but also of whether Trump falls ill – and what that means for the election

Hours after the announcement that he had tested positive for Covid-19, Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Florida for a campaign rally on Friday and announced that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, who also tested positive, would enter quarantine.

Related: What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

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What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

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Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 – but what happens if he can’t carry out his presidential duties?

Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.

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Trump joked while people suffered with Covid. Well, is now the time to stop? | Marina Hyde

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Maybe the real victims of the president’s diagnosis are his MAGA disciples who don’t believe the virus even exists

Well, it’s definitely a plot twist. Like a lot of people who sat through Tuesday’s presidential debate, I’m amazed the week has ended with Donald Trump ingesting bleach, and not me.

As you may vaguely have heard, the US president and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus – which feels untimely given that, mere hours earlier, Trump had been declaring: “The end of the pandemic is in sight.” Perhaps this is a one-last-job movie. Alternatively, picture a Wuhan bat staring pensively into the fireplace as its butler suggests not thinking too hard about Trump’s motivations. Some poorly facepainted men just want to watch the world burn.

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Boris Johnson sends best wishes to Donald and Melania Trump after Covid-19 diagnosis – video

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Boris Johnson has wished Donald and Melania Trump a 'strong recovery', hours after the US president revealed he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus

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Trump throws baseball caps into crowd days before announcing positive Covid test – video

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Two days before announcing he had contracted Covid-19, Donald Trump tossed two campaign baseball caps into the crowd with his bare hands while at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. 

The venue was crowded with hundreds of supporters on Wednesday and Trump, who did not wear a face mask, entered the stage smiling and waving to the crowd before addressing the rally. The president frequently minimised the seriousness of the pandemic in its early stages and has repeatedly predicted it would go away. 

Trump announced he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for Covid-19 in a tweet on Friday

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Fears for Obamacare if Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to supreme court

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Case due before court seeks to strike down landmark Affordable Care Act – which could leave millions of Americans adrift

This month, Congress is expected to begin confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s nominee for the supreme court, Amy Coney Barrett. If confirmed, she could be the decisive vote in a case being heard days after the election, which seeks to strike down the landmark Affordable Care Act – a move that could leave millions of Americans without healthcare in the middle of a pandemic.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women's rights?

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Trump’s positive Covid test was a surprise that many saw coming

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The president has been cavalier throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a month before the election, this changes everything

It is likely to go down as the biggest “October surprise” in the history of US presidential elections. Yet anyone who was paying attention could have seen it coming.

Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after claiming “it will disappear”, telling the journalist Bob Woodward he was downplaying it deliberately, failing to develop a national testing strategy, refusing to wear a face mask for months, floating the idea of injecting patients with bleach, insisting to one of his many crowded campaign rallies that “it affects virtually nobody” and, at Tuesday’s debate, mocking his rival, Joe Biden: “He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

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Burned bottles and scorched vines: wineries hit hard by California fires – in pictures

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The Glass fire is sweeping through the famous wine regions of Napa and Sonoma in northern California. The wildfire, which erupted on 27 September, has damaged numerous wineries and vineyards, charring grapes and incinerating inventory. Tasting rooms and restaurants have also been hit. The effect on the industry has been described as “catastrophic”. Several Napa Valley growers have said they will forgo a 2020 vintage altogether due to smoke contamination of their crop.

The Glass fire has torched more than 50,000 acres and firefighters are battling to bring it under control. It has also destroyed dozens of homes and thousands of people remain under evacuation orders.

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